


The sky'd be falling while I'd hold you tight

by loosingletters



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Apocalypse, Domestic Fluff, End of the World, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Romance, the world is ending and Anakin and Obi-Wan decide to date again for 14 days
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosingletters/pseuds/loosingletters
Summary: The world is going to end.All of humanity knows it’s coming. Some cry, some pretend everything is fine and keep going.Anakin Skywalker decides to pack his bags and drive himself and his sister Ahsoka up north to tell Obi-Wan Kenobi of all the feelings he had choked down when the world wasn’t ending in 14 days.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 40
Kudos: 149





	1. Day -15

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InsomniacForevermore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsomniacForevermore/gifts).



> Welcome to Eli-has-no-self-control-so-take-this-now aka the Soft Apocalypse AU!  
> This story was born after I listened to the song [If the world was ending](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jO2wSpAoxA).
> 
> This is your gift, my dear Cherry, I hope you like it!

If there was one thing about the end of the world that Anakin enjoyed, it was the fact that nobody gave a shit about money anymore. His rent was three months overdue and during any other time, his landlord would have kicked him and Ahsoka out already. But as it was now, money had become worthless within the blink of an eye. What use were green dollar bills when they couldn’t prevent the end from coming, when all that ended up counting was the kindness you could still offer another person?

Anakin had never noticed how many hours of his day had been taken up worrying about money until he hadn’t had to anymore.

“Come back soon!” the cashier behind the register said automatically, wincing when she had realized what her words meant. Her mouth was already half forming an apology. Anakin only shook his head and smiled at her encouragingly on his way out as he took his very expensive fish, fancy bread, and luxurious side dishes with him. He hadn’t eaten as well as he had in the past weeks in years.

Since Obi-Wan.

Shaking his head, Anakin tried to think of another thing. As he walked past the stores of the super-rich, his expensive evening lunch stored in cheap plastic bags, he watched as people went from window to window, sometimes entering the stores, sometimes just staring at all they used to idolize, looking desperate and dead inside.

Anakin didn’t know why he was so apathetic to it all.

Maybe his world had ended often enough already that he was just tired of it at all at this point and couldn’t conceptualize what it meant that _The End Is Near!_ when he had to restart his life so often already.

He took his time walking back to his small apartment. When the news hit that they would definitely die, he had considered, for a moment, to take Ahsoka and move them into a fancy hotel room with a pool or so, but in the end, he hadn’t managed to bring himself to do so. Their home _sucked_ , but it was their home still. If they truly all were to die, Anakin wanted it to be in a place he was comfortable in.

“…predict that the power plant will explode on the night of the 23rd, 3 a.m. exactly.”

Anakin stopped in front of the hardware store to check the news channel flickering across the screen of one of the many TVs displayed there. Two reporters were making their daily statements, dressed formally still as if anyone cared about appearance. When they had first learned that the new power plant, set up in the middle of the ocean of all places, was going to explode, they had been spammed with updates. In the beginning, they had been so hopeful still. Surely some government must be hiding away a super soldier to fix it all or develop a daring last-minute plan to rescue all of mankind.

But no super solider had shown up, no scientist had discovered a new method of containment for the radiation, and soon people had started to realize that they were actually left to their own devices, to their own deaths. Some had gone half-mad, others had found solace in religion, others had decided to end it early—

And then there was Anakin, who had done nothing at all.

He had still gone to work for the first week until eventually his bosses had told him that he didn’t have to come but could just stay at home and spend some more time with his loved ones.

Anakin supposed this was the second good thing to have come out of the end of the world. He was spending more time with Ahsoka again. Usually, their schedules didn’t overlap too much. Anakin was working to keep them afloat whenever he wasn’t sleeping or signing off permission slips. Ahsoka was busy with school and studying, keeping up her excellent grades to get into a good college. Anakin had managed to start saving up some money for it too. Ahsoka’s teachers had all praised her efforts, and her coach had said that if she kept up going as she did now, she would be able to get a basketball scholarship. She played fantastically, taking after Anakin in that regard; nobody could deny that they were siblings when they took to the court. Anakin loved to watch Ahsoka play, see her smiling brighter than she did at other times.

It was good to spend time with her again, even if the circumstances weren’t the happiest.

Anakin turned into the next street, then stepped onto the oncoming bus taking him home. He thanked the driver for still doing his job with chocolate and a flower growing from the bushes next to the stop.

The drive wasn’t long and soon Anakin was walking up the steps to his apartment. He unlocked the door and closed it behind himself with a kick.

“I’m back,” he announced and stepped out of his shoes. Anakin walked out of the small entryway into the living room – and was confronted with _chaos_.

Books and magazines covered the floor, photos, scrambles on pages, and more pencils than he had even known Ahsoka possessed. The photos were arranged according to the timeline. Close to Anakin’s feet, he found pictures of himself as a baby, quickly followed by all of Ahsoka’s baby photos, featuring a nine-year-old Anakin smiling happily at the baby in his arms while their mother had her arms wrapped around them both. Careful as to not step on the wild collection, Anakin made his way through the chaos. There were his primary school days, there Ahsoka’s and there was middle and high school and—

Anakin froze.

“Ahsoka!” he shouted. “What were you doing going through my stuff?”

Anakin dropped the groceries to pick up the photo that had thrown him off with shaking hands.

It was a polaroid from five years ago, one Anakin _knew_ he had hidden in a shoebox beneath his bed so that nobody would accidentally find it and could call him out on how pathetic he was.

Anakin heard cursing, then the bathroom door opened and Ahsoka leaned against the doorframe, attempting to look casual and failing. Her white and blue hair – dyed on the second day of the apocalypse announcement – had been braided and was neatly out of her face. She would look quite put-together if not for her expression. She had never been able to lie to him.

“Anakin! You’re back. Already.”

“I told you I was just going to grab dinner. What the fuck is this?”

“Photos,” Ahsoka replied and moved through the chaos so easily, Anakin was led to believe she must have created it the moment he had been out of the door. “I was just trying to look through stuff.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s with this, huh?” Anakin held up the photo, pointedly not looking at it.

Ahsoka now had at least the decency to avoid looking at him. “Oh, that. I found that under your bed.”

If Anakin didn’t remember exactly how he had been as a teenager, he would have lost his temper at her casual tone.

“And you thought you could just take it?”

Ahsoka crossed her arms in front of her chest, now looking defensive as she dropped down on the sofa, brushing away a couple more papers. “Well, I was curious, sue me, I just wanted to know.”

Anakin could feel his patience running thin, coming close to snapping the more the anger and the humiliation rose in his chest. “You have no business knowing— “

“Why you broke up with the love of your life?” Ahsoka interrupted him. “Yeah, _sure_.”

Ahsoka’s words cut like a knife and Anakin wanted to argue just with her, tell her that this was private, that she shouldn’t have gone out searching through his stuff, but what use was getting all riled up now when it would only result in a fight and spending hours annoyed at one another?

The world was ending. What reason was there for wasting even more time, for caring about privacy?

Anakin deflated, exhaustion taking over. “You could have just asked.”

Ahsoka seemed to be as taken aback by his reply as Anakin felt saying it. “And you would have answered?”

Anakin considered what he would have done had Ahsoka asked, probably not answer her outright. He wasn’t the kind of person who bothered others with his issues, especially not his little sister.

“Help me pack away the groceries,” Anakin said, changing the topic abruptly.

“Wait! I still want to know!”

“Then you can wait until I’m done packing away the fish.”

Anakin walked over to their small kitchen and dropped the groceries on the counter, still clutching the photo in one hand before putting it aside so it wouldn’t get dirty.

Ahsoka turned on the radio as always as they began packing away the food. The radio station had apparently reached the hits of the early eighties now. They were determined to get through all the hits of all ages in the next two weeks. They packed the fish and the side dishes and the dessert into the fridge while all the other sacks went into their various cupboards. The old cabinets had never been as full as they were now, never as stuffed with healthy snacks either. Anakin was a little proud of it, even if he had nothing to do with it, really.

Once they were finished, Anakin started heating up water for a cup of tea and Ahsoka jumped on the counter, watching him.

“So,” Ahsoka said as she grabbed an apple from a bowl and began to cut it open. “What happened?”

“Why do you want to know?” Anakin countered. He raised his brow at her, but Ahsoka only shrugged in a _what-can-you-do_ matter. “I watched TV today while you were gone. They suggested more bucket list items and one program brought up figuring out your deep and dark family secrets. I couldn’t find any actual secrets. Well, any but that.”

Ahsoka pointed at the photo.

Anakin was younger in there, twenty, and grinning from ear to ear. He was dressed as a wizard while Ahsoka, a cute witch, sat on his shoulders, and Obi-Wan, as a vampire, was leaning in and kissing Anakin’s cheek. Padmé had taken the photo that night and developed it so Anakin could hang it up.

The photo had captured an important moment. It had been the first time Anakin and Ahsoka had smiled in earnest after their mother had died. Obi-Wan had taken the two of them trick or treating, even produced costumes for them both from somewhere with Padmé’s help.

While Anakin had been reluctant to go at first, the evening had turned out to be fun. Ahsoka had ended up chatting more than she had in weeks, and Obi-Wan had held his hand the entire evening and after, when they had returned back to their shitty apartment, they had tugged a sleepy Ahsoka into her bed and spent the rest of the night on the sofa talking about nothing in particular.

Six months later they had broken up.

“We just didn’t fit together anymore,” Anakin replied, not really lying but sure as hell not saying the truth either. “People grow apart.”

Ahsoka was, apparently, as capable of picking out his white lies as he was at figuring out hers. She hummed and grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with water, and drunk from it. “That sounds cool, and what’s the truth?”

Frustrated, Anakin ran his fingers through his hair. “Ahsoka, that’s nothing you should bother with; it’s been years anyway.”

“Well, if it’s been years, you should be able to tell me.”

His little sister took another sip of water all while staring Anakin into his eyes with the determination of a teenager who knew she could win a staring contest. 

“I remember how much fun being around Obi-Wan was,” she said. “He made you happy. He was family.”

Oh, yeah, Obi-Wan had been. Anakin had known him since he was nine, and Ahsoka had known him her whole life. Anakin had met him the day after Ahsoka had been born. He had been holding his new baby sister and just decided to chat with the red-haired teenager sitting in the ER because his friend got his hand broken in a stupid accident. They had been friends ever since and Anakin had decided then and there that he’d someday marry him. But that had been a naïve childhood dream, an incredibly ridiculous one too.

And still.

“I was stressed,” Anakin said after careful consideration. “Mom was _gone_. I had to quit college to look after you, get a job, and figure out how to pay off the debts.”

“I know that,” Ahsoka replied, a hint of guilt showing in her voice. Anakin had always done his best to not make Ahsoka feel like she was guilty for the turn their life had taken. Anakin loved her; he’d gladly blow off ever going to college if it meant that he could keep his sister with him.

“But that doesn’t explain Obi-Wan. Everything was fine one day and then it just wasn’t. You didn’t talk anymore and he moved out and we never really talked again after those first couple phone calls.”

Ahsoka had gotten a few gifts and cards from Obi-Wan. He also knew that she had kept them in an equally secret box under her bed that he wasn’t supposed to know about. He was also sure that he hadn’t been meant to know the content of her phone calls with Obi-Wan. He had always sat in the next room, listening in on their conversations like an idiot, hoping Obi-Wan would just ask after him, but he never had.

And eventually, Ahsoka had stopped talking with him too, perhaps because she had been able to see how much it upset Anakin.

“What happened?”

“Obi-Wan wanted to move up north back to his childhood home.”

The small city Obi-Wan had grown up in was a six-hour drive away from where they currently lived. It was a nice place. Anakin had spent a couple summers there, exploring the area with Obi-Wan and going on dates to the lake and the old part of the city. They had walked through the art gallery and made fun of all the pretentious modernist pieces, attempting to see some deeper meaning in a black spot on a white canvas.

“He asked if I— if we wanted to come with him, move in with him. There was a school you could attend, and I could have gone to the small local college and work at the same time.”

Obi-Wan had asked him in the dead of night, over a cup of tea. Anakin had been able to envision it without any problems, painting a picture of the three of them together.

And it had scared him.

He had been too messed up then to consider moving in with his boyfriend, to think of Obi-Wan saying _‘I would raise your sister with you’_.

Twenty and entirely out of his depth, thinking of all that it would cost Obi-Wan, that he deserved better than this, shouldn’t have to carry Anakin’s burden—

“Holy fuck,” Ahsoka breathed. “He, _shit_ — He asked you to marry him?”

Anakin winced. “No, he never said a word about marriage.”

“But basically,” she recapitulated. “He asked if you wanted to move in with him and thought of where to enroll the eleven-year-old with the anger issues.”

That summarized it well. Anakin had gotten to the same conclusions as she then, as to what Obi-Wan had actually been asking, suggesting.

“I—” before Anakin could finish, Ahsoka jumped down from the counter and pulled him into a tight hug, burying her face in his chest.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have asked. “

“It’s alright,” Anakin replied and pulled her close, his chin fitting on the top of her head. Ahsoka had grown so much lately, he had started wondering whether she would end up taller than him.

Now he’d never see it.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s clean up the mess in the living room and watch a couple good movies. You can pick.”

Ahsoka squeezed him once more, closely, then she let go and nodded. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”

Together they made the living room presentable again. They returned the photos to the albums they were from and Anakin collected his pictures in his shoebox again. He didn’t bother putting it away beneath his bed again; there was no point to it, and instead just left it standing next to the sofa.

Surprisingly, Ahsoka decided to put on one of his favorite movies and so they spent the hours until dinner time blocking out all news of the end to come and focused on the moment instead. At one point, Ahsoka just dropped on him, her head on his shoulder, letting him brush through his hand through her hair. When dinner time rolled around, Anakin prepared the fish he had brought and they ate it together, bemoaning the fact that their tomatoes weren’t all grown yet and therefore couldn’t be eaten with the fish yet.

Anakin packed up the dinner when they were done and tossed it in the trash despite the many leftovers. They hadn’t eaten leftovers even once in the past month and Anakin looked forward to not doing it for the remaining fourteen days. The evening passed quickly and the night even faster with Ahsoka snoring away. She was completely knocked out with her head lying on Anakin’s chest and her feet dangling off their small sofa as yet another old school classic movie played in the background. All TV channels seemed keen on replaying the best mankind ever produced, a bittersweet farewell to all their future hopes.

Anakin found his thoughts circling back to the box to his feet and to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan had never really been one for movies but had had still suffered through endless movie nights and Anakin’s relentless commentary as long as he could decide what exactly they were watching. Obi-Wan was probably not spending the night in front of a TV. If Anakin concentrated, he could just picture him curled up in an armchair, reading an old book.

Obi-Wan was the kind of person who’d wait for the end times getting lost in a thousand different worlds. 

Anakin’s stomach turned.

He had thought he had gotten past this. The first year he had kept busy working and caring for a grieving child while coping with his own grief and failing social life. After that, he had just kept on pushing, waiting for the day Ahsoka would graduate high school and get accepted into college. He had always thought that once that moment came, maybe he could do something else. He didn’t know what exactly, but he had dreamed of maybe going back to school himself or so. He had been too focused on making it through another day to consider the future at large, what exactly he would want to do.

Obi-Wan had always been the one more focused on the moment when they were younger. Anakin had had dreams larger than himself, and Obi-Wan had been content just sitting next to him with a cup of tea, listening to him ramble.

Anakin wondered once more what Obi-Wan was doing now. Had he found someone who made him happy? Was he married, did he have children?

Maybe the image Anakin had evoked before, Obi-Wan all on his own, had just been his desperation talking, his wishes for—

For what exactly?

A world where he hadn’t been too scared of Obi-Wan offering to share his life so readily as if there was no place he’d rather be than next to Anakin. Anakin would never know now what it would be like to wake up next to him in the morning, to drive Ahsoka to that school whose library Obi-Wan had always praised, or take a look at that greenery Qui-Gon had dared to call a well-cared-for garden that Obi-Wan had always wanted to fix.

He would never know and he’d die not knowing what chances he had missed because he had been so terrified of the love he had held for Obi-Wan.

“Anakin?”

Ahsoka looked up at him with her tired brown eyes, more asleep than awake. “You okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” he replied. “Why?”

“You’re crying.”

_ Oh _ .

Anakin quickly rubbed over his cheeks and indeed, his sleeves came away with tear stains. God, it was so stupid. He shouldn’t be chasing after dreams like this and yet he couldn’t tear himself away from the thought. He felt like he was sixteen again and realizing that he was head over heels for Obi-Wan.

“Hey, Ahsoka, is there anything you want to do?”

“What?”

He wasn’t sure if he had actually asked her about her wishes since they had sat in front of the TV together, hearing the awful prophecy for the future.

“Is there anything you really want to do before it’s over?”

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka replied. “I thought I’d like to see Disneyworld or whatever, but that’s not really important at all. Why? Is there something you want to do?”

“I— “ Anakin swallowed. Even after nearly five freaking years, he still remembered what Obi-Wan smelled like, what his voice had sounded like when he had called Anakin’s name.

“I want to see Obi-Wan,” Anakin managed to say, his words not quite feeling like they belong to him at all, but as if a stronger spirit had possessed him, encouraging him to speak the truth and not lock himself up in his mind again. “I just want to know what life was like for him.”

_ I want to know if he regrets driving away as much as I regret cutting him out. I just want to be close to him one last time. _

Silence followed Anakin’s statement as Ahsoka studied him, her eyes suddenly sharper than before. “Okay,” she answered then. “When do you want to go?”

Anakin looked at the clock. It was midnight. Fourteen days until the end of the world.

“How about now?” Anakin suggested, first with disbelief, then growing anticipation.

He could really do this. He didn’t even know if Obi-Wan still lived in the same place, but it wasn’t like Anakin had anything to lose. Time was running out anyway; he could try to put this part behind him at least.

At first, Ahsoka looked like she didn’t quite think she had heard him correctly, then she rolled off Anakin and got to her feet. She yawned and stretched herself, then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Blinking at him, Ahsoka’s face split into a grin.

“Last one to pack their back is a loser!” As if carried by the wind, Ahsoka rushed into her room.

“Hey! Not fair!” Anakin shouted after her but quickly stood up as well. He looked back at the box of memories, then grabbed it and hurried to his own room.

He grabbed a few backpacks from his wardrobe and put the photo box into the very first. His heart fluttered at the thought of speaking to a man he hadn’t exchanged a word with in years.

Here was to hoping it wouldn’t end in a disaster.


	2. -14 Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2!  
> Before you continue, check out [this amazing art of last chapter's polariod](https://quiet-oracle.tumblr.com/post/637649050634731520/ahsoka-pointed-at-the-photo-anakin-was-younger-in). Cherry did such a wonderful job with it, I am so in love with it!
> 
> Secondly, this chapter got away from me. Please don't expect nearly 8K chapters for each update.
> 
> Now have fun!

It was still dark when Anakin and Ahsoka left the city behind. Anakin's car was packed full with their belongings. While they had started putting together nothing more than an overnight bag, with each new item added, emphasizing its necessity, it had quickly become apparent that they were not planning to return to their small apartment. By the time they had finished packing, they had all but managed to fit their entire life into one car. Ahsoka had even insisted on bringing their collection of window plants and their vegetable garden, small as it was.

"We're just visiting Obi-Wan, right?" Anakin asked, bewildered, staring at their assemble as if the thought didn't make his heart race and his hands feel clammy. No matter how often he might repeat these words to him, there was nothing simple or easy about this trip. Somehow carrying the baggage of the last years with them only made him feel worse about it all.

"I know," Ahsoka replied and slammed the car door shut. She pushed back the car seat as far as she could with the backseats being stuffed full. When she was comfortable, she kicked off her shoes and put her feet on the dashboard, displaying her mismatched socks. At any other time, Anakin would have told her off, but instead, he settled on pointedly glaring at her until she put on her seatbelt.

The world was ending in fourteen days; there was no need to cut their lives even shorter by dying in a car crash.

"I mean, obviously, there's no need for us to just stop there and return home if we can't stay. We could make a road trip out of it. Mom always wanted to go on one with us."

She _had_.

Anakin remembered how excited Ahsoka had been about it too. She had bought a journal and stolen Anakin's art supplies, then spent hours on youtube watching people talk about their travel journals. The maps she had hung up in her room had long since disappeared, wrecked in a temper tantrum after Anakin had told her that _Mom wasn't coming back_ and she should _stop being such a brat_.

Parenting had not come easily to him.

"I thought that was the point of packing everything up," Anakin said, gesturing at the back of the car.

"Yes, yes, I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page. This is going to be fun. I'm already all set up."

As far as Anakin knew, Ahsoka had never ended up using the journal for anything else, so he was even more surprised to see her pull the old and worn leatherbound book out of her backpack.

"What are you doing with that?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "It's our last trip. I figured I could finally use this. Now, first things first: We need good music."

Ahsoka quickly plugged her phone into the car's dashboard and spent a couple seconds scrolling through it before she had apparently found the playlist she wanted and selected it. Immediately, Fall Out Boy began blasting through the speakers. Ahsoka grinned at him, and even when Anakin tried to look like he was just barely putting up with her music choices, he found himself mirroring her expression. They hadn't been able to play any loud music in the apartment, and back when he had still driven Ahsoka to school, it had been almost tradition to turn up the music so loud that they were deaf for the next hours to come.

The music also provided a good distraction. It was easier to focus on the pounding of the drums than the pounding of his heart. "Alright then, music first, what next?"

"Photos!"

Ahsoka began searching her bag again – Anakin was starting to wonder what the hell she had packed inside of it – until she triumphantly pulled out a camera he was very sure hadn't been in her possession beforehand.

"Where did you get that?"

"Took it from the electronic store down the road." Ahsoka grabbed a film package from her bag and fiddled with it until she managed to insert it in the polaroid. "I was going to pay for it, but they said to just take it. Now, say cheese."

Anakin rolled his eyes but indulged his sister by smiling at her as she shot her first photo. She hummed in satisfaction as the camera printed the picture. Once it was done, she put the newly printed photo on her legs to develop it properly and continued with her shoot.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her turn the camera around to take a selfie of herself. She waited until both had developed before placing them somewhere in her book. With the road being as empty as it could be, Anakin could afford to pay a little more attention to her actions. It definitely made driving more relaxing than the usual chaos and mayhem of the large city. Nobody bothered him and the traffic wasn't driving him crazy.

They quickly left the city behind and Anakin headed towards the highway. Here and there, they saw a few other cars, some people skateboarding or driving their bikes, but mostly it was desolate and just them and the music.

"-heaven's grief brings hell's rain, then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday! For just one yesterday!"

Ahsoka was having a good time, singing along at the top of her lungs while drawing and writing in her book or, after the first hour or so, opening up the first snack bars and forcing Anakin to take a break so that they could eat some more.

"Where else do you wanna go?" she asked. "If this doesn't work out."

If Obi-Wan had moved on, she meant. Anakin wasn't sure if he wouldn't prefer it if she just said it outright. There was no need to be so careful. It had been five years. _He_ had broken up with Obi-wan, not the other way round. There was no need to treat him like he was still reeling from his breakup.

Not that he wasn't.

Anakin batted away those thoughts to consider her question more carefully. "No idea, the beach maybe?"

Ahsoka pulled a face. "They said the beach areas would be hit first."

Yeah, hit first in _two weeks_. And who even cared, the prognoses had stated pretty quickly that it would be lights out for everyone within one hour anyway. "Well, if you don't like my suggestion, make a better one. Where do you wanna go?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "No idea. Hiking? I've never been hiking."

Anakin tried to imagine his converse, short jeans, and tank top wearing sister in the woods somewhere and promptly began to laugh. "Oh, yes, city girl. You wouldn't survive an hour in a forest."

Ahsoka shoved Anakin and finished up her early morning snack before promptly walking back to the car with her head held high, forcing Anakin to return as well and keep driving.

The time passed within the blink of an eye. They made a couple more stops for bathroom breaks, to eat or, on one memorable occasion, to take a picture of some bird statues that were apparently well-known, but Anakin had never even heard of. Ahsoka called him uncultured, Anakin proceeded to cite the car manual at her, and they tried to outdo each other with random trivia for the rest of the drive. Somehow, Ahsoka managed to use up the first film entirely and, when they made their last stop, had inserted another.

By the time they were half an hour away from where Obi-Wan lived, the sun was starting to rise. Anakin parked the car on a hill he remembered picnicking on once and got out of the car for one final stretch, working off his nerves as Ahsoka sat on the roof of the car, watching the sunrise.

"Almost there," Anakin said. "Second thoughts?"

Ahsoka tilted her head and frowned, looking so similar to their mother that it stole Anakin's breath away. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Shut up, I'm the older sibling," Anakin argued very maturely.

"Yes, yes. I don't have second thoughts. Do you?"

More than he could possibly name, so many that he thought he might choke on them, drowning in the memories of happier and easier times.

"No," he lied straight through his teeth, hoping his attitude, no matter how fake, would give him a confidence boost. "Let's do this."

The last twenty minutes of the drive were nerve-wracking.

The town Obi-Wan lived in, if he still lived here at all, wasn't particularly large. On their way in, Anakin saw a couple new buildings, but that was about it. He wondered if the old cinema was still standing, if the mall still had the same shitty old shops. Here and there, he saw a person walking around, but otherwise, the city was calm. No surprise at this time.

"Do you remember any of this?" Anakin asked.

Ahsoka only shook her head. "No, not really. I know there was a lake? I don't know. I didn't spend an entire summer here."

Obi-Wan had lived here during the summer, while he had stayed in the city the rest of the year. Anakin had never particularly cared what was up with his father's job that Obi-Wan had moved around so much, especially since he had opted to stay in the city during the summer as well when he had started studying. Ahsoka had been in primary school still when they had been here; it was no surprise that she didn't remember much.

"Yeah, there's a lake. When you and mom were here and I had to babysit you, you'd ask to go to the lake every freaking day. It was _so_ annoying."

"Riiight." Ahsoka stared out of the window, frowning as if she was trying to recall those days. "You probably deserved it."

Anakin shook his head and drove off the main road. He had always loved the house of Obi-Wan's family. It had been in their possession for a couple generations already and looked super old. Half of it had been overgrown with ivy and other flowers and so. Anakin had thought it was the coolest thing right next to the garden, used to his city apartment as he had been. The apartment they had lived in hadn't even been a pretty one, not like Obi-Wan's. That one had always been clean and open and you couldn't hear the neighbors shouting when they fought. It had been in a nice neighborhood too, the kind where Anakin had felt jealous about whenever Obi-Wan wasn't distracting him from it.

 _Fuck_.

Anakin needed to get his thoughts in order."

The house was right on the other side of the town, near the forest and the lake was. They had walked to the lake in only their swim trunks, barefoot. Sometimes Ahsoka had insisted on not wearing any shoes as well and then had started to complain when her feet hurt from the rough ground and Anakin had been forced to carry her if he didn't want to deal with the tantrum of the century.

Funny how he remembered all of that now.

When Obi-Wan's house showed up in the windshield, Anakin was tempted to hit the brakes and turn around in a move stolen straight from one of those daring car heist movies.

He didn't.

Instead, he parked the car, turned off the motor, and creepily stared at the house that was their destination while clinging to the wheel as if it were his lifeline. "Here we are."

"Huh. I think I do remember this," Ahsoka spoke up, leaning over Anakin to get a better look at the overgrown house. From the outside, it still looked the same. The front of the house was a soft blue color and the shingles red. The tree growing right next to it was perhaps a little wider, and so were the bushes growing in front of the house, but otherwise, it was just the same. Everything had changed, but the building hadn't.

It somehow made Anakin angry that there was no visible sign of time passing. It felt like a taunt, like an insult.

"Let's go!"

And then, as if it was the easiest thing in existence, Ahsoka got out of the car. She brushed all cookie crumbs off her and stretched. "Are you coming or not?"

"I can't just—" Anakin cut himself off. That was what he had come here for; knocking on Obi-Wan's door, playing catch up, asking _did your regrets leave you as hollow as they left me?_

"Right." Ahsoka fixed him with a look, then she sighed and walked straight across the road to the house like a woman on a mission.

"Ahsoka!"

Anakin hurried to follow her, but she was quicker.

She jumped over the small wooden fence as if the winds themselves carried her and Anakin had never regretted teaching her parkour more than he did at that moment. She rushed past the post box reading _Kenobi-Jinn_ and headed straight for the door.

What if Obi-Wan wasn't even awake? He always hated getting up early in the morning. What if they were kicking him out of bed, this was a _horrible_ idea. Anakin should have never told Ahsoka that he wanted to drive up here.

However, before Anakin could stop her, Ahsoka had already rung the bell.

He managed to reach her side the moment after and wanted to pull her away before anybody could open the door. This had been such a dumb idea. What if Obi-Wan didn't even live here anymore and they were waking some poor innocent person up for nothing— no, wait. The post had still carried Obi-Wan's last name, so nobody new had moved in here. But that didn't mean that Obi-Wan would be the person to open the door. He could have gotten married. Anakin had no idea what to do if his new spouse opened the door. It would certainly go over well if Anakin said, _'hi, I'm your husband's ex-boyfriend._ _Mind letting me and my sister talk to him?'_

Anakin hadn't thought this through at all. Of course, he hadn't. He had let his emotions get the best of him and, as always, it had ended spectacularly. He should have known better and not done something so foolish. All these years pretending to be a grown-up had truly taught him nothing.

As all these thoughts were urging him to pull Ahsoka away, the door opened.

For a moment, Anakin didn't even register who stood there.

It was Obi-Wan, of course, it was. Copper hair, wearing glasses of all things – why was he wearing glasses, did he need them now? – holding a cup of tea.

And he was staring at Anakin and Ahsoka with the same disbelief Anakin was feeling.

He was looking directly at Anakin, and briefly, Anakin thought the twitching of his hand indicated that he wanted to reach out, test if they were real, but he tightly held his cup in both hands, similar to the way Anakin had clung to the steering wheel.

There was no golden band decorating one of his fingers. Somehow that was all Anakin could focus on.

"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan said slowly. "Is that you?"

"Hi, Obi-Wan," Ahsoka replied cheerfully. "You've gotten old."

He had. It didn't look like it had been five years since their last meeting but ten, but he still looked as handsome as he always had. Anakin, meanwhile, probably looked like an utter fool. He was dead tired and exhausted and, god, he hadn't even bothered to change his shirt. He must look so incredibly gross and desperate. What a way to make a reintroduction.

"You've grown too," Obi-Wan continued, his voice still off, bewilderment clearly visible. Ahsoka, of course, pushed right past that, ignoring it, and grinned at him. "Of course, I have. Soon I'll be taller than even Anakin."

The silence that followed Ahsoka's statement was almost to be expected. Still, his sister managed to smile through it and so Obi-Wan returned her smile, hesitant, but honest. "I have no doubt of that."

And then he looked at Anakin. He felt as if Obi-Wan had ignited a fire in his chest with just his eyes, studying him. Anakin wondered what he saw, if he still recognized Anakin at all, had memorized the curve of his neck and wondered who else had kissed it.

"You've grown your hair has out," Obi-Wan said.

"Eh, yes." Of all the things Obi-Wan could have said, Anakin didn't expect that.

Insecure, he ran his fingers through his hair. The last time they had seen each other, he had just started growing it out, the tips reaching down to his shoulders.

He hadn't been able to keep up with cutting it properly, too busy to find the time, and he hadn't had anyone who could have cut it for him. Anakin hadn't wanted to waste any money on it, and he wasn't going to let Ahsoka cut his hair, so he had grown it out. By the time he had considered letting Ahsoka do it, he had gotten used to the length, so he now just kept it tied back in a ponytail.

He should cut it again. Probably, maybe. If Obi-wan didn't like it?

Anakin's brain halted to a stop as he reexamined his thoughts. He couldn't seriously be considering cutting his hair because his ex-boyfriend might not like it. It shouldn't matter to Anakin what Obi-Wan thought.

Belatedly, Anakin realized he should probably say something in reply before the silence between them became even more apparent. "You wear glasses."

Somewhere, Anakin was sure, somebody was cringing at the awkwardness of their conversation. And maybe that someone was Ahsoka in her full subtlety as a teenager, rolling her eyes at him. He wanted the ground to swallow him up.

"Are you alone?" Ahsoka asked Obi-Wan bluntly. "We, uh, kind of drove a long way here. Well, Anakin drove, and we haven't really eaten breakfast besides snickers bars and do you have food?"

"Ahsoka," Anakin hissed, struggling to maintain that he hadn't raised a downright impolite child. She couldn't just invite herself inside.

"No, I don't— It's just me living here. Yes, of course, you can come inside." Obi-Wan stepped aside and let them pass him.

This entire situation was surreal.

The insides of the house were relatively familiar still. It had obviously changed since Anakin had last been here, but at first glance, the layout appeared to be the same. It was the only comfort Anakin could find in this situation.

Obi-Wan led them to the kitchen, where they already found breakfast for one prepared.

"Take a seat," Obi-Wan said. "I can make you whatever you want, I think. I have pancake batter if you want?"

Of course, Ahsoka agreed readily and grabbed a plate for herself as Obi-Wan set to heat up the pan.

"Black tea for you, Anakin?"

Anakin stared at Obi-Wan, who was already holding a mug and the kettle. Why did he remember that Anakin's favorite breakfast tea was black? Why did he even have that stocked? Obi-Wan didn't like black tea, preferring green himself. This conclusion felt like a revelation. Anakin shouldn't judge Obi-Wan for knowing Anakin's breakfast preferences when he remembered Obi-Wan's.

"Yes, thank you."

"Do you have juice?" Ahsoka asked.

Obi-Wan nodded and within minutes the table was set for three and Ahsoka was digging into the pancakes she had gotten Obi-Wan to make for her. At the same time, Anakin clung to his cup of tea, not even touching his plain white bread because he wasn't sure he couldn't stomach anything.

It was a bit of a relief to see that Obi-Wan wasn't eating either.

"So," Obi-Wan started slowly, "how have you been?"

 _Miserable_.

"Just fine," Anakin said, quickly thinking of how he could turn the conversation away from himself. "Ahsoka's the best student of her year."

Obi-Wan turned to look at her, interest written all over his face. "Really? That's impressive."

"Only because Anakin is always nagging me," Ahsoka insisted, though her cheeks heated up under the praise. "Study for this, study for that, you want to get into a good college."

"Well, you do," Anakin insisted. "And I don't nag _that_ much."

It wasn't like Anakin was around to do too much of that, working as much as he did. He made sure to encourage her to the best of his abilities, but he was still a far cry from all those wealthy PTA parents of Ahsoka's school who had hired private tutors and whatnot so that their brats could grades half as good as Ahsoka did for her scholarship. Not that it mattered much anymore.

"And you?" Anakin asked. "How have you been?"

"I graduated," Obi-Wan said. "And I teach at a local college. And right now I'm trying to finish my book, hence being up so early already."

"You were never a morning person," Anakin said and immediately wanted to erase the last minute.

He didn't want to think of the morning he had been up already and Obi-Wan had still been curled up in the sheets and pulled Anakin back to bed—

"That hasn't changed since. If not for the circumstances and my job, I would still be in bed, believe me," Obi-Wan replied. "What brought you two to my doorstep? Not that I'm not happy to see you. It has been a little lonely around here."

If Obi-Wan was alone, then he couldn't possibly be in a relationship. The moment after the thought occurred to him, Anakin wanted to kick himself for it. This really wasn't what he should be focusing on or what he should be happy about. What kind of person was he that he didn't want Obi-Wan to have been happier than him in the past years? A horrible one, that was for sure.

"We had enough of our stuffy apartment and decided to get out of the city," Ahsoka proclaimed. Satisfied and stuffed, she leaned back in her chair only to shoot up a second later, cursing.

"Shoot, I forgot my camera, be right back."

And with that, Ahsoka hastily left the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone. The ensuing silence was louder than a screaming match could possibly be.

"She has grown a lot," Obi-Wan said, picking up the conversation again as he stared at the door where Ahsoka had disappeared through.

"Yes," Anakin said, following his gaze. "I'm proud of her. She's amazing, despite my fuck ups."

She truly was. Anakin was incredibly proud of Ahsoka and for her sake more than anyone else's, he loathed that the world was ending. He didn't particularly care much about his future, but Ahsoka had deserved to be great.

"I think she's amazing because of you raising her. You did wonderfully."

When Anakin tore his eyes away from the door, Obi-Wan was staring at him. The air was so heavy that he thought the pressure would prevent his chest from falling and raising. Without Ahsoka there as a deterrent, nothing was ensuring that they weren't drawn into each other, attraction like magnetism forcing them together for better or worse.

Obi-Wan looked so kind, so gentle. It tore Anakin's heart out to hear the soft praise that left his lips. "Really, Anakin, you should be proud of yourself. She looks like a happy child."

Anakin knew it was only because she was tr8ing to hold herself together. Obi-Wan hadn't seen the two of them at their worst, hadn't seen all the ways in which Anakin had lacked. "I wasn't good enough. She shouldn't have had to rely only on me—"

"Your mother—" Obi-Wan began, but Anakin interrupted him by shaking his head, his fingers clutching the teacup so firmly, he thought he might break it.

It was now or never. If Anakin didn't speak up, didn't admit the actual reason why they drove her, he knew he would never say it. He'd just fall right back into wanting Obi-Wan to like him, regardless of how much he'd need to pretend. Anakin had always been a people pleaser when it concerned his loved ones.

"I missed you," Anakin confessed, the words feeling like wings and shackles at the same time, exhilarating and damning. "That's why we drove up here. Ahsoka asked what happened, why we broke up because she saw one of those dumb doomsday bucket list shows, and I just— I had to tell her it was because I was stupid. I'm sorry, Obi-Wan, I'm so fucking sorry I fucked us up. I promise, I didn't mean to, but I didn't want you to throw away your life just because mine had decided to jump off a cliff, and I know I don't have the right to just march back in, but—"

Anakin stopped, gagging on his own emotions. Caught between wanting to run away and stay right where he was, but closer still, he was frozen in an uneasy equilibrium.

"I'm glad you did," Obi-Wan said softly. His lips twisted upwards into a smile, color rose to his cheeks as he closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "I've been falling asleep with my phone in my hand every night, thinking I should just _call_ you. Ask after you, after Ahsoka, whether you'd like to meet again. I just wanted to know what had happened, if you two were alright, but I couldn't bring myself to do it."

He smiled melancholically. "I was afraid you'd tell me to leave again and I don't think my heart could have endured that."

"Oh."

Silence reigned again. Somewhere Anakin was sure that Ahsoka should have been back by now. He was too glad about her absence to consider that aspect any further.

"I'm sorry still," Anakin said once he found his voice again. "You deserved better."

Obi-Wan didn't reply to this. Anakin was thankful because any denial would have been a lie and an acceptance would be an admittance of Anakin's every mistake. He wasn't sure what he wanted to hear Obi-Wan say. Maybe just that he accepted this pitiful apology? That he didn't mind that it had come five years later?

Considering this, perhaps Anakin would be more comfortable with anger, seeing his eyes turn into the storms Anakin knew they could be.

"Do you have any plans?" Obi-Wan asked, a rather abrupt change of topic.

"Not really. We kind of just packed up our stuff and left yesterday. Today. It's been a long day already. Sorry." He had done nothing but apologize in the past minutes and he already felt like he ought to apologize for his ineloquence. Anakin glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. "And it's not even eight."

"And you drove all the way here?"

Anakin shrugged. "Ahsoka doesn't know how to drive yet; there was no real other option."

They had already signed her up for classes that would never happen now.

"How about you go to sleep then?" Obi-Wan suggested. "I still have a guest room with a bed and if Ahsoka's tired, she can have mine, I suppose. I was working on my book anyway, so the two of you can rest and then decide what you want to do after?"

It felt a peace offering, like a puzzle, a thousand other things left unsaid. Anakin accepted it.

"That would be kind, thank you."

He finally decided to bite into his bread and by the time Ashoka returned, Anakin and Obi-Wan had finished eating as well.

After helping Obi-Wan wash up, Anakin grabbed his necessities from the car, a change of clothes and his toothbrush mainly, and let Obi-Wan show him the guest room, kind of unnecessarily. It was the same as it had been. Still, Anakin was glad when he could close the door behind himself and drop on the bed to fall into a dreamless sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was still high up in the sky and he heard noise coming from the hallway. Tiredly, he rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he had also changed clothes and felt a little more alive than he had before. He honestly hadn't noticed how exhausted he had been from the drive until he had fallen asleep.

He followed the noise downstairs to find Ahsoka, also in a new set of clothes, talking animatedly with Obi-Wan. She was gesturing wildly, nearly falling off her chair as she narrated what had taken place during her last championship. Leaning against the doorframe, Anakin felt a pang in his heart.

They could have had this.

Five years of this, of being a family.

How was it that Anakin grew nostalgic for a fantasy so quickly?

Ahsoka suddenly stopped talking to look at Anakin. "Oh, good morning."

Feeling caught, Anakin tried his best not to appear as if he was embarrassed by her noticing that he had been watching them.

"Good morning," he greeted. "What are you two up to?"

"Just swapping stories," Ahsoka said. "Did you know Obi-Wan went on a world trip?"

No, how was Anakin supposed to have known that, they hadn't talked in five years.

"I didn't," he said as politely as he could and took a seat. "Where did you go?"

"A little bit of everywhere. I started in Spain, trekked through the rest of Europe, took a flight to India and from there to China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia…" Obi-Wan trailed off. "I have a lot of pictures if you want to see them?"

He seemed almost embarrassed to be asking this, but it was an invitation in relearning all that Anakin had missed out on and it pained him to notice how desperate he was for an opening such as this. "Sure," he said. "I'd love to see it."

"Give me a moment then, I need to grab my old laptop." Obi-Wan rose from his chair and disappeared up the stairs, to his room probably.

Anakin used the time to turn to Ahsoka. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he hissed.

"Because you were sleeping comfortably. And because you needed it. And because I wanted to talk to Obi-Wan on my own without you interfering and making things needlessly complicated."

"I'm not making anything more complicated," Anakin argued, but shut up when he heard footsteps approach again, and so had to satisfy himself by glaring at his sister.

Obi-Wan came back down with his laptop. "I have them all stored on here if you want to look? We should probably move to the living room for this."

The two of them followed Obi-Wan into the living room, which, for the most part, looked precisely as Anakin remembered it. The old wooden table, the comfortable white sofas – the only different thing was that the garden outback didn't look as much like a disaster anymore. The vast green space he could see through the balcony door still looked incredibly messy, but the front part had been cleared up to make space for a little herb garden.

The three sat down on the sofa, Obi-Wan in the middle, Ahsoka to his left, and Anakin to his right. He turned the laptop on, which took longer to boot up than Anakin would have had the patience for with his own computer, and even longer to open the photo files.

And then they started going through Obi-Wan's photos.

A lot of them were landscape pictures. A couple of them were selfies too, but Obi-Wan wasn't really in many of the photos. Still, Anakin committed them to memory. Obi-Wan looked younger in the photos and like he was having fun. He certainly wouldn't have been able to go on this trip with Anakin and Ahsoka around, and somehow this thought managed to soothe Anakin's thoughts. He hadn't fucked quite _everything_ up.

"Oh, man, you went to Pompeii?" Ahsoka asked, staring at the last picture. "That's so cool. And your photos are so good. Did you do anything with them?"

Obi-Wan blinked. "What should I have done with them?"

"Like, hang them up!" Ahsoka said. "I've been taking photos and gluing them in my journal."

Ahsoka had been doing that for all of one day. Anakin wouldn't exactly claim her to be an expert on the topic. And yet…

"You should print them out," Anakin agreed. "This trip was important to you, wasn't it?"

Obi-Wan still seemed taken aback but their suggestion, but he answered honestly. "Yes, it was."

"Then let's do it!" Ahsoka jumped up. "Do you have a photo printer?"

"Eh, not really, no. I only have a printer for work and I think it's low on ink. It's not the best either."

"Hmm." Ahsoka put her hand to her chin, the perfect picture of someone lost in thought. "What about the nearest craft store?"

"Yes, they should have a printer," Obi-Wan replied. 

"Sweet! Then let's go!"

And so Anakin found himself being dragged along by his sister, clutching Obi-Wan's laptop under her arms. She barely left them enough time to put on shoes before she was out of the door again. Obi-Wan and Anakin just exchanged a look and Anakin shrugged helplessly, hoping it conveyed that this was all the fault of his teenage sister and not his own.

"Obi-Wan! Anakin! Hurry up!" Ahsoka complained, already out of the house.

"You don't even know where to go!" Anakin shouted back, but his sister couldn't be deterred.

They jogged to catch up with her and when the trio was halfway down the road, they were stopped by a familiar looking man.

"Obi-Wan!" the man exclaimed with surprise. "You finally managed to drag yourself out of the house again, huh?"

Obi-Wan only rolled his eyes. "Yes, Quinlan. I'm not a hermit."

Quinlan grinned. "Could've fooled me. Taking a break from writing today?"

 _Quinlan_. Right. Anakin knew him. He and Obi-Wan were childhood friends. He had also been the dumb teenager who had gotten his arm broken, which had led to their fated meeting. He looked slightly different from Anakin's memories, though not too much. However, as far as Anakin knew, the man shouldn't even be here. Didn't he have a job somewhere in Europe? Then again, five years was a lot of time for things to change. He should know that.

"Yes, I'm not working on my novel right now. Anakin and Ahsoka here decided to visit."

Quinlan blinked, then he leaned forward. "Shit, it really _is_ you, Skywalker! Long time no see."

"It's nice to see you again too," Anakin replied. "I didn't know you still lived here."

Quinlan shook his head. "I don't, but with, you know," Quinlan mimicked an explosion with his hands, accompanied by befitting sound effects. "I decided to go home, visit Dad. Aayla also came by. We're not the only ones. A lot of folks are coming home, seeing who they really want to spend the end of days with."

At this, he sent the two of them a knowing look. "Are you staying too?"

"We don't know yet," Anakin replied as if he didn't want to shout 'yes' from the rooftops. "We didn't really plan much ahead."

"Ah, the true explorers. In any case, you managed to drag Obi-Wan out of his writing frenzy, so there's that. Feel free to make yourself at home here. City council's pulling together some stuff to celebrate the last days. There's a concert sometime in the next weeks and our street is organizing a food festival this week. You should join up so that number 212th can contribute for once."

Obi-Wan looked somewhat surprised at that announcement. "What food festival?"

Quinlan smiled, not really all that apologetically. "Oh, yeah, we didn't ask you to cook. Not to be mean, Obi-Wan, but your food is awful."

"No offense taken," Obi-Wan sighed. "I am well aware of my skills, and cooking is not necessarily one of them."

Quinlan gave him a thumbs up. "Good to know you're so self-aware. Anyhow, I have to go. Dad's taking us up the hill to the lake. See ya!"

Quinlan waved goodbye and then walked past them, returning to his own house. The whole interaction was bizarre, but all these events sounded nice. Something that could be quite enjoyable. If they stayed, maybe they could attend them.

"All this talk about food has me starving," Ahsoka complained.

"We can eat once we're back," Obi-Wan spoke up. "It can be an early dinner."

They continued their walk to the store. The shop was mostly empty, only here and there a person grabbing something and greeting them. Ahsoka marched straight to the photo terminals and hooked Obi-Wan's laptop up. Then she started selecting the photos and got the printers to print them, one after another.

After it became clear that it would take a while, Anakin decided to look around the store.

Obi-Wan hadn't really outright _said_ something about them staying here, but he also hadn't said anything against it, and after seeing how pitiful the insides of his fridge had been this morning, it would do to grab a bit of food.

Anakin grabbed a shopping cart, and mindlessly began to fill it with the priciest things he could find of each category. Who cared if these noodles would taste worse than anything less expensive? Anakin had always wanted to waste ten bucks on noodles. They went into the cart, as did some vegetables and fruits. The shopping kept his mind off all the other questions swirling around in his mind.

He didn't keep track of time, but he returned to the others once he was done.

"Are you done?" he asked Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, who now had an entire basket full of photos standing at his feet.

"Yep," Ahsoka proclaimed, holding up the last photo to be printed.

"Those are a lot of pictures," Anakin said. "Where do you even want to put all of these up?"

"You could put them in the hallway. The green paint there kind of sucks anyway," Ashoka suggested, no tact whatsoever.

Anakin thought of reprimanding her, but before he could do so, Obi-Wan already nodded in agreement. "You're right. The paint there is awful indeed."

He looked down at the photos as if he did a mental count of them, then hummed in satisfaction. "It could look quite welcoming. Thank you for the suggestion, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka beamed at him. "I knew somebody would like it. Oh, hey, are you making mom's lasagna for dinner?"

It took Anakin a moment to register what Ahsoka had said. "Uh, yes. If everyone is alright with that?"

"Hell yeah," Ahsoka said and fist-pumped the air.

"That would be very lovely," Obi-Wan added. "I don't think I've eaten a proper warm meal in... a while."

The fact that he didn't even look too put out by it was what caused Anakin to snort. "Yeah, I've noticed. How do you not have a single non breakfast food in your fridge?"

"I was a little preoccupied writing my novel. I wanted to have finished it when the curtain calls so that the story is told."

Guilt overcame Anakin. Right, they had just shown up unannounced and Obi-Wan had had a plan already. He had already found what he wanted to do for the end of the world and now they were messing up his plans.

"This would be a nice change of place," Obi-Wan mused. Then, as if he could still read Anakin's every thought in his face, he smiled at him. "I don't mind. Seriously."

A little more reassured, Anakin stood a little straighter.

Ahsoka grabbed the basket with photos and lifted it into the shopping cart. They headed towards the store's exit, but not before Obi-Wan placed money in the empty cash register.

"Nobody is here, you know that, right?" Anakin stated. There was no point in leaving worthless papers.

"It's the principle of the thing," Obi-Wan argued and, for good measure, put another twenty bucks in the cash register.

By the time they were out of the store, the sky had started to darken. The day had passed quicker than Anakin had thought it would, but he had also been asleep for most of it.

Once they were back home, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan took the basket with photos and each grabbed one of the glue sticks Ahsoka had thrown into the shopping cart last minute. After discussing in what order they would arrange the images, they began gluing them to the wall.

Anakin, meanwhile, decided to unload the shopping cart and then return it to the store. There was no need to do so, but the cooling summer air helped him clear his thoughts. When he was back, he stopped at the hallway leading up to the second story to see that Ahsoka and Obi-Wan had made considerable process. The wall really did look better with the photos covering the ugly green wallpaper. He watched them for a moment, then decided to return to the kitchen. After a search that was uncomfortably short, Obi-Wan arranging his kitchen as he always had, Anakin started to cook. He didn't need a recipe book for it, having made this particular meal so often, he knew it entirely by heart.

When he had finally put the lasagna in the oven, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were also done, so he sent them off to lay the table without sparing too many thoughts about the ease with which he fell into old patterns.

Dinner was surprisingly relaxed. Obi-Wan talked a little more about his travels, and Anakin let himself get coerced into talking about dumb clients he had to deal with at his job, those who couldn't tell two screws from another, though by the faces Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were giving him, they likely couldn't either.

The evening was so normal and passed so quickly, Anakin hardly noticed when it was pitch-black outside and the few lights illuminating the night sky were those of the stars.

"You know, like this, it doesn't even look _that_ bad," he commented, staring out of the window into the garden that looked just a little less awful than it had when the sun had been illuminating the bushes growing uncontrollably.

"Oh, I know it's awful. I never really got around to cleaning it all up." Obi-Wan sounded as if he regretted it.

"You could do that now?" Ahsoka suggested.

"For what purpose?"

"To pass the time," Anakin replied. "I always wanted a garden like this."

He had dreamed of it, told Obi-Wan all about it. Anakin wanted to own a house sometime, a building that would be his very own, and he wanted a large kitchen and an even larger garden with lots of greenery so he wouldn't have to go to the city park to get some nature.

"Okay."

"What?" Anakin looked at Obi-Wan in confusion.

"We can do that tomorrow then, if you want to," Obi-Wan elaborated. "Clean up the garden and make it presentable, though it might take more than one day, even with the three of us working on it.."

This really _was_ Obi-Wan inviting them to stay, it had to be. There was no other reason he'd say how much time it took otherwise.

"I would like that," Anakin replied. "Yeah, sure, that could be fun. What do you say, Ashoka?"

Ahsoka only nodded along. "Could be fun, I agree. Do you have a garden center in the city?"

"Yes, why?"

"So we can buy new flowers, obviously. Oh, and maybe some vegetables? We brought out tomatoes from home, but they're still in their pots in the car. Maybe they'll grow a little quicker here than they did in our place if we plant them properly."

She seemed to get rather excited about the idea and Anakin smiled at her joy. "Maybe, the air is certainly better here."

Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair, a fond expression on his face. "That settles it then. We are gardening tomorrow."

But if it really took up so much time, then he wouldn't have any left to write. Anakin frowned. "And what about your novel?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was only trying to distract myself. This is preferable, I assure you."

They quickly cleaned the table, washed the dirty dishes, checked the time, and headed for bed. Anakin made sure that Ahsoka went to the guest room. His sister would not steal the bed of their host, even if Obi-Wan said that he was fine sleeping on the sofa. He and Ahsoka could share a bed just fine.

"And you are sure you are alright with us staying here?" Anakin asked while Ahsoka was in the bathroom, changing and brushing her teeth. "We did just spring it on you."

Obi-Wan smiled encouragingly. "I don't mind, Anakin."

 _Anakin_.

How pathetic was it that Anakin had missed the way Obi-Wan said his name.

"I am glad you decided to come up here. As I said earlier today, I…" Obi-Wan trailed off. "I really was contemplating calling you. I'm happy you are here. You can stay for as long as you want, for as long as we have."

They could stay for forever pressed into barely two weeks three hundred hours that would never be enough.

It had to be. They had missed enough.

"Obi-Wan, I—"

"Done!" Ahsoka announced and slammed open the bathroom door. "You can go in now."

Ahsoka's timing couldn't have been more off. Anakin cursed her silently when she walked back to their room, whistling without a care in the world. He'd bet that she had been listening and this was her revenge.

"Good night, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, pulling Anakin's attention back in.

"Good night, Obi-Wan."

They stood frozen for another second, then Obi-Wan returned to his room as Anakin got ready for bed in the bathroom.

Later, with Ahsoka snoring on his chest, sleeping in the narrow bed, Anakin wondered what Obi-Wan was thinking about. He fell asleep to the steady rise and fall of his sister's chest, dreaming of memories long gone.

Thirteen days until the end of times.

Ahsoka's Journal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'd love to hear what you think! Yell at me [on tumblr!](https://jasontoddiefor.tumblr.com/)


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